Thursday, 3 July 2008

“The operation was absolutely impeccable,” Ms Betancourt told Colombian radio just hours after she was freed, as she described the ruse played by Colombian soldiers on the FARC rebels.

“They spoke and dressed like the guerrillas,” she said, adding the operation began at dawn, when the hostages were told they were being transferred.

Some of the elite Colombian soldiers who took part in the operation had disguised themselves as rebels, even wearing T-shirts bearing the picture of legendary revolutionary Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, she said.